What's the relationship of Yas Iwanade with Crescendo?
Yas Iwanade is I believe the Regional Head for Asia for Gibson Sales. He now takes care of replenishing stocks for Crescendo in the absence of a local product manager. Surprisingly, last year, I learnt that he started selecting and setting up some of the guitars he sends over.
I teased him about this around 2-3 years ago when he first came here. Now I also doubted Yas as someone who could possibly have different standards than I. Its only after I bought the R8 after the R9 (in a span of less than a year) that I can say Yas KNOWS how but will not admit to us that he chooses among his stocks.
I remember asking him which of the bursts in his book combined the ELUSIVE beauty and tone in one guitar. He said: The one on the cover of the book. He told me that it sounded like an acoustic guitar -- unplugged.
He got to test my Gil Yaron and I asked him for an opinion. He laughed and said that he is a Gibson employee and is prohibited from making comments on other guitars. He however did say that the Gil Yaron tried very hard to make a burst -- whatever that means. LOL.
So, my suggestion is... rather than buying in the USA or Japan; sell your Historics NOW and buy from YAS or rather the correct word is ask him to choose. It saves you the head ache (risk of getting a bummer which is a 99% chance) plus you get a warranty and possibly a setup by Yas Iwanade. But the downside is that I think even YAS cannot guarantee the exact look you want.